Monday, 15 October 2018

With Amazon joining the party with Sky and BT, the future
battle for TV rights is getting very competitive. Amazon has won the rights to
show 20 games from next season but only over two match days. Boxing Day and another
bank holiday will see Amazon have the rights to show every game from the two
days to their subscribers. The package was known as ‘package F’ which is relatively
low on the priority list for TV broadcasters with package A (Saturday 1230 KO
won by BT) and packageB (Saturday 1730
KO won by Sky) the most popular followed by Sunday games.

Amazon’s thinking will be to get their foot in the door with
the main objective to increase their customer base and Premier League football
has that global interest that only football has and the opportunity to get
involved would have been difficult to resist.

Amazon do give free 30 day trials and many may begin the
trial around the Christmas period in order to get the boxing day games and some
may cancel after but many will continue which will fulfil Amazon’s objectives
of increasing their customer base.

The other interesting thing for next season was ‘package C’
which Sky won and allows them to show 24 Sunday 1400 games which is familiar
but also allows them to show eight Saturday night 1945 games. While, Saturday
night games may be prime time viewing on TV in the United Kingdom, it poses difficulty
for supporters travelling to watch live games.

The late KOs potentially pose transport issues with trains
often not running a late service which may make it difficult for away
supporters to get back to the part of country they are from. This may also mean
some awkward conversations within families with some wanting to go / watch
football with others not so keen.

We calculated that last season; Arsenal only had about 5/6
traditional 1500 KOs. There are currently Friday night KOs (that are very
difficult for travelling fans), Saturday 1245, Saturday 1730, soon to come
Saturday 1945, Sunday 1200, 1400/30 and 1600/30 and Monday 2000 KOs and many
games are moved for TV coverage which means supporters have to wait until about
6 weeks prior to know when and where their team is playing which makes it very
difficult to plan their own lives.

With Amazon being a less traditional place to watch
football, it may mean others get involved. Twitter had some NLF coverage which
moved to Amazon and Snapchat had sport highlights which may result in more
social media platforms and online streaming companies get involved in football
and push Sky and BT to the limit. The ultimate result for supporters may be to
have multiple subscriptions in various places in order to watch their team
which could prove costly.

As much as we all love the beautiful game, the cost for
supporters via TV or attending matches is out of control which match ticket +
transport costing a small fortune and potentially forcing families to make a
choice and potentially putting football before other priorities.

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

The safe standing debate has been going on for quite a while
but very much in the background until recently. I think the break through
moment was when the inquiry into the Hillsborough tragedy was concluded with the verdict that Liverpool supporters were not to blame for the incident
where 96 football fans, like me and probably you, if you are reading this
passed away.

Rightly so, the safe standing debate was put to one side as
the families of those who lost their life were battling to remove blame from
the Liverpool fans in Sheffield that night in 1989. There was an unwritten
agreement that the campaign would only really begin if the families of those 96
Liverpool fans and Liverpool fans in general gave the go ahead.

This was a clear sign that fans wanted safe standing back in
the English game. The families of the 96 Liverpool fans, via the Spirit of
Shankly, visited Celtic who were carrying out a trial for safe standing and some of them were supportive after seeing the facilities in Scotland. Other clubs such as
West Brom and Cardiff have tried to conduct similar things and are working on
appeals, after being initially rejected at government.

Ultimately, the government are in control of the situation
and have the power but in a petition signed by over 100,000 people are now set
to debate / discuss it in parliament on June 25.

All the signs are that it’s moving in the right direction
and supporters are being urged to contact their MP, if they support the concept
of safe standing with fan groups now contacting their clubs to seek their views
and are beginning to put some pressure on as it’s clear that the majority of
football fans want it.

What would safe
standing mean in my opinion?

Let’s get one thing straight, supporting safe standing doesn’t
mean you have to stand when you go and watch your club play football. A
potential standing section would amount to a small percentage of a ground’s
capacity. At the trial at Celtic, 3,000 seats were replaced by 3,000 people
standing – it was one for one. Long term this may change and Arsene Wenger,
when in charge of Arsenal, spoke highly of safe standing and the potential to
reduce ticket pricing, but we’re a long way away from that.

At the Emirates, even if 5,000 become safe standing, the
rest of the 55,000 would remain as it is (3,000 goes to away fans) so we’re
likely to have more demand than supply which means anyone not part of the
demand, will be unaffected (unless they currently sit in the place where safe
standing comes in – they may need to be moved in that case). I remember at a
football supporters meet up where someone was very passionate about safe
standing because he believed it would improve the atmosphere and be great for
young people but when asked if he would want to stand, he said ‘no, I’m too
old, but just because it won’t direct benefit me, it could benefit others and
benefit the club who in return will get a better match day atmosphere’. That’s
the view, I’m sure, of many supporters who have views on atmosphere, seating,
ticketing but may just not be able to be part of it anymore.

There will be teething problems – safe standing may mean
further and more stricter policing of seated areas and those not lucky enough
to get into the safe standing section, may be forced to sit more than they do
now (it’s pretty common to stand during exciting moments) with persistent
standing to be taken quite seriously. There will be a higher demand for the
standing areas so there would have to be a system in place but if it all
worked, how great would it be to have a section that can go head to head from
an atmosphere side with the away fans?

The atmosphere at the Emirates has always been debated and
while it has improved in my opinion for the big games, it may just need another
injection and safe standing could be that. It may encourage younger people to
get involved more; it may encourage supporters who follow the team away only to
come to home games and we may get a proper singing section to drive the team
forward in games. The old cliché about the 12th man being important
could begin to be a thing at Arsenal again.

I’m all for safe standing, as long as it’s done with no risk
attached and is 100% safe. If there are any doubts, the plug should be pulled
but going all over the country and looking at conditions in the home and away
ends, it’s actually becoming more dangerous to stand in a seated section and
that alone, could end up being more dangerous than having a safe standing
section.

Sunday, 6 May 2018

It’s been slightly forgotten but Sunday marks the final time
we’ll see Per Mertesacker in the first team squad at the Emirates Stadium (barring
injury) and remembering what Arsene did with Mikel Arteta, I have a feeling we
may get a final chance to see Per on the pitch playing in the red and white for
the final time.

Let’s go back a few years to when he signed for the club –
we were in complete disarray, we had just been destroyed at Old Trafford 8-2
having already lost at home to Liverpool. We had just sold one of our better
players in Samir Nasri, having already lost our captain Cesc Fabregas earlier
in the summer so there was a major rebuilding process on.

Robin Van Persie was entering his last two years of his
contact and there were doubts about Theo Walcott at the time. Arsenal needed
some leadership and they needed players who WANTED to play for The Arsenal.

Up stepped, Per Mertesacker. A self-proclaimed Arsenal fan that
was honoured to come and represent the Arsenal. He was a player linked with the
club for a while and when it happened, it was ‘a wish come true’ for the
player.

He brought leadership and calmness to the club and quickly
developed the role of ‘debt collector’ when players received fines and was made
captain after Mikel Arteta retired.

His first goal was in the North London Derby – not a bad
place to start and you get the feeling he knew what it felt to be an Arsenal
player.

The ‘big f*cking German’ quickly become a cult hero and was
always quick to come over to the away fans , win or lose, playing in the game
or not playing in the game and that got instant respect.

Arguably, his finest hour was one of his last starts in a
big game for the club and that was at Wembley in the FA Cup final last May. He
hadn’t played all season aside from a few minutes on the final day of the PL but was forced to start after injuries and suspensions
to others meant there literally was no one else but big Per was there to step in.
He told Martin Keown at the end of the game ‘not to write him off’ and anyone
that was there at Wembley understood what he meant.

Arsenal fans were nervous that we would be facing the likes
of Hazard and Costa with Rob Holding and Per Mertesacker in the backline but
neither of them let us down but it was Per who impressed with a man of the
match type performance – he really was a hero, a leader and a real Arsenal man.

I think he has been forgotten a little with the news of the
boss but keeping him around the club in his new role in the Academy is
fantastic news and let’s hope he has a long and successful career of the field
for the Arsenal because he has so much to offer.